Samosa

Tips & Variations

1. To get a crispy flaky pastry in samosa the amount of fat which we also call  “moyen or moyan” in Hindi must be in the right proportion while making the dough. To check the proportion always mix the oil in flour until it resembles breadcrumbs and then try forming a rough ball in your hand. If the mixture comes together as one that means it has enough fat proportion. If the flour does not come together then add a little bit more oil. Spend time at this stage and mix the oil and flour for 3-4 minutes as patience at this stage will result in crispy flaky pastry.
2. The samosa dough must be kneaded to a tight and firm dough. So, water is added slowly in parts when kneading the dough. The amount of water to be added depends on the quality of the flour so add water slowly and in parts till you get a tight and firm dough.
3. It is important to roll the dough evenly. Do not roll the samosa crust too thick otherwise it will take too much time to fry and samosa will be hard instead of crispy and flaky. Do not roll the dough too thin as otherwise the flakiness will be missing in the samosa. It should be no less than 1 mm and no more than 1.5 mm.
4. Most important thing to remember is not to the fry the samosas on high heat, as samosas will not be crispy and flaky and the dough will remain uncooked. The samosa needs to be fried at low to medium heat initially and then the heat is increased to give them the golden colour.
5. I have used green peas in my samosa filling. If you are not a fan, simply skip. You can also add cashew nuts and raisins if you want.
6. You can make samosa using whole wheat flour if you wish however it will not be as crispy and flaky as plain flour.
7. You can freeze the samosa. There are two ways of freezing them. You can either shape the samosas and then freeze them before frying or you can fry them and then freeze. I would recommend frying and then freezing as they can be defrosted and then warmed up in oven (180 C degree for 5-7 minutes). The uncooked ones sometimes can become soggy after defrosting and hence difficult to fry.
8. If your samosas turn out to be soft after frying it can be because of two reasons. Either the dough was too soft, or the oil was at an extremely low temperature while frying. When you knead the dough, make sure that dough is tight and stiff and check the oil that it is at right temperature. For doing that drop a small piece of dough in the oil and if it pops up in 15-20 seconds that means the temperature of oil is perfect.
9. Usually the best samosas are the ones with no air pockets. I would say that a few air pockets are fine and inevitable. However, if your samosas are covered with air pockets that means that the dough was too soft and hence lots of moisture in the dough or the oil was too hot while frying.
10. Resting the dough for at least 30 minutes is important as resting helps in the gluten development and thereby making the samosas flaky.
11. Do not use any flour while rolling the samosa as that will make sealing the edges hard. If you have difficulty rolling you can apply little oil on your rolling pin.
12. To store the leftover samosas, simply place them in an airtight container and refrigerate. They will be fine for a day in the fridge. In hot weathers I wouldn’t recommend keeping them for long as the potato filling will spoil.
13. To warm up the left-over samosas, I pre-heat my oven to 180 C degrees and then place the samosa in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes until nicely warm.
14. If you wish you can bake the samosas too. Line them on a parchment sheet and brush them generously with oil and then bake at 180 C degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until browned. However, I would highly recommend frying them as the texture of both the samosas is hugely different.